New books on North Carolina architecture make great gift-giving this holiday season! 

Carolina Cottage
A Personal History of the Piazza House 

by M. Ruth Little

Available from University Press of Virginia  

"In an engaging blend of the architectural and the personal, Ruth Little opens the door to a long underappreciated regional house form. Her ‘Carolina cottage’ is a modest and graceful dwelling grounded in a tradition of comfort and hospitality, in which the deep, broad porch is integral structurally as well as socially. Drawing upon her experiences of rescuing and living in such a house, as well as tracing the type across time and landscape, she invites us to see the richness of a seemingly simple building form. This is a very good book to read on a porch, if you can find one."—Catherine Bishir

Images of Old Salem
Then & Now

by David Bergstone

Available from John F. Blair, Publisher

The full history of one of the South's hidden treasures is finally given celebration in Images of Old Salem: Then & Now.

Produced in partnership by Old Salem Museums & Gardens and John F. Blair, Publisher, Images of Old Salem: Then & Now uses exclusive historical images alongside present-day color photographs to show the evolution of the village. The accompanying text provides insight into how each component was preserved.

And don't forget, still available from PreservationNC.org . . . 

Thomas Day
Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color

By Patricia Phillips Marshall and Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll / Photos by Tim Buchman

Published by UNC Press and available at PreservationNC.org

CURRENTLY SOLD OUT . . . Please check back shortly.

Thomas Day (1801-61), a free man of color from Milton, North Carolina, became the most successful cabinetmaker in North Carolina--white or black--during a time when most blacks were enslaved and free blacks were restricted in their movements and activities. His surviving furniture and architectural woodwork still represent the best of nineteenth-century craftsmanship and aesthetics.

Through in-depth analysis and generous illustrations, Marshall and Leimenstoll provide a comprehensive perspective on and a new understanding of the powerful sense of aesthetics and design that mark Day's legacy.